Ugly World
by fuwafuwa123
Summary: "How do I look?" he asked, his one eye gleaming at her. She looked at him, and tears filled her eyes. "Sad," she responded. "You look sad." He couldn't help but agree. CobraXLucy Fanfiction
As Lucy lay in her hospital bed, she recounted her life. She had friends, a dad that loved her, a sister who actually cared. But, she also had a cornea transplant, which apparently had landed her here in this bed, with the many machines to keep her company during the stormy nights. In her course of two weeks at the hospital, she had had endless visitors, none of which had been her attending doctor. The team of doctors under him who were attending to her were kind and smart, but at the same time, they clearly had no idea what was wrong with her. They had run test after test, done biopsies and scans of all kinds, and had come up empty handed.

Looking over to her right, she her IV medication holder hung completely full, multiple bags for her multiple failing organs. Her dialysis machine had also forever imprinted the crimson color of blood onto her mind. Suddenly, her attention was drawn to a figure opening the sliding door to her room.

He was tall, 6' at least if not a couple inches taller, and he would've towered over Lucy's 5'6 frame. His deep purple hair made her stare in wonder, but at the same time hope he wasn't the man attending to her. He had gold loops that hung on his ears, and their glimmer in the light strained Lucy's already damaged corneas. But the one thing that stood out to her, though she was sure it stood out to others too, was the single red eye staring back at her, surrounded by old, faded scars all over his face.

He was a sight to see.

The man paced around the room, avoiding her gaze. Lucy, on the other hand, stared at him, following his every move. Even after all the also diagnoses, she couldn't help but hope he knew what was wrong with her. Suddenly, he stopped, startling Lucy out of her state. He looked up at the ceiling and inhaled sharply before speaking. His voice was low, a soothing baritone, a calming tone in contrast to what he was going to say.

"My name is Dr. Erik Vivas. You have cancer." The diagnosis was harsh, and almost resent Lucy into cardiac arrest.

"W-what?" She replied, unable to form other words. He moved around the room slowly, his purple eye looking everywhere but her.

"You don't technically have cancer, just cancer cells. The donor you received your cornea transplant from, he had a benign cancer. When we gave it to you, the cancer was triggered. We released cancer stem cells, and they attached onto every organ in your body; lungs, pancreas, kidney, liver," He stopped pacing to look at her. His gaze was so intense it took her breath away "And now, your brain."

"S-so what? I'm going to die? Just like that?"

"No. You need surgery though. The surgeon will open up your brain, and attach a neural net. Small electric pulses will be emitted, effectively ridding your body of the cells. Post-op, we'll give you methotrexate, to help your body purge the cells. You'll be fine."

Lucy smiled, tears running down her face and her head hung to look at her clasped, pale hands in her lap. Dr. Vivas, on the other side of the room, was heading for the door, when all of a sudden he whipped around.

"Your file says before your transplant, you used to be an artist and a writer. But now you're a math teacher. What happened? You became a math teacher _after_ you could see?" Lucy looked at him sadly.

"I used to be an artist because the colors looked beautiful. They were wonderful. Bright, sensational. Before I knew that something was wrong with my eyes, I needed surgery. People told me, that after surgery, the world would look better. More colorful and bright, happier. But it wasn't." Lucy tried and failed to keep her bitterness out of her voice. "The world that everyone else saw, was ugly. It was disgusting, and boring. I couldn't do it. I couldn't delude myself into thinking that the world was actually nice. I couldn't. So I stopped. I was good at math, and had a degree in teaching, so why not? There's nothing wrong with looking at something as boring as the rest of the world." Dr. Vivas was silent for a good time. What he said next surprised Lucy.

"The world…its not as ugly as you think. The cancer in your brain, it was there since the moment they started closing you up. And by the time you opened your eyes, looked again, it had almost been five days. The cancer was in the section of your brain that perceived what you saw. The world is just as beautiful as you used to think it was, used to see it was." The doctor had steadily been looking at the blankets while talking, and had failed to notice how aggravated his patient was becoming. When he was done, Lucy shook her head stubbornly and repeatedly.

"No, no! How can, how can that happen?! No! The world is ugly! It always will be ugly. No. It doesn't matter even if you fix me, I will always remember how ugly the world is."

Lucy went into surgery the next day.

The procedure had taken approximately seven hours, and had gone without complications, but even so, Lucy had stayed out for three days. When Laxus, Levy, Natsu, Erza, Gray and Juvia had come to visit, they had all cried. Even Laxus shed a tear or two, at the sight of his dear sister laying in a hospital bed.

She was thinner, more skinny than she already was. Her beautiful porcelain skin was still clammy and paler from treatments, and her usually rose red lips were now chapped and cracked. Lucy's beautiful, angelic blonde hair was gone, shaved off for the procedure. Her usually bright, honey brown eyes were covered with a large piece of gauze. The sight of their usually bubbly, bright friend looking so sickly and hooked up to so many machines was enough to make them cry, and in Natsu's case, punch a very large hole in the wall. They were still in the room when Dr. Vivas came into the room. He looked around the room before speaking.

"Friends or family?" he questioned, his face unchanging. Lexus stood up.

"I'm her brother, and the others are her friends. Laxus Heartfillia Dreyar." Laxus stood up and extended his hand to the doctor. Erik just stared at it, before taking it.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this, but you're sister needs rest, not maniacs who punch holes in walls. Get the hell out, and come back tomorrow." Instead of arguing with the doctor like Erik assumed the buff man would do, he cast another sad look at his poor sister before telling the others to get out. Walking over to her, Laxus pulled a chair to her bedside and sat down. He leaned in toward her ears, and said somethings that Erik couldn't care less about. He assumed they were the standard words and phrases, 'I love you, I miss you, get better please, for me.' He rolled his eyes.

Once Laxus had gone, Erik started to do a final check, packing up for the night. He cast a final glance at the girl before sliding the door shut.

It was another day before Lucy woke up. Erik walked into her room.

"You ready? I'm going to take of the bandages. It'll be bright." Lucy just simply nodded.

The first thing Lucy saw was Erik's familiar red eye peering down at her. "Well?" Erik started. "How do I look?" he asked, his one eye gleaming at her. She looked at him, and tears filled her eyes.

"Sad," she responded. "You look sad."

He couldn't help but agree.


End file.
